Nick Harkaway | Karla’s Choice
Wed 23 Apr 2025 | 8:00pm - 9:00pm
Discover the most talked-about thriller of the year! Acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway’s gripping Karla’s Choice is set in John le Carré’s world of espionage. It’s a momentous return for George Smiley, one of spy fiction’s greatest characters – even more momentous as Nick is Le Carré’s son. Come and hear how this literary legacy has passed so brilliantly from father to son.
It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy…
In conversation with Alex Clark
Venue: University Arms
Duration: 1 hour
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Author Biography
Nick Harkaway is the author of eight novels including The Gone-Away World, Gnomon and Titanium Noir as well as the forthcoming George Smiley story Karla’s Choice. Two of his novels – The Price You Pay and Seven Demons – were written under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen.
Harkaway’s real name is Nicholas Cornwell and he is the fourth son of the David Cornwell (who wrote as John le Carré) and his second wife Jane Cornwell. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge before working in the film industry. He is married to Clare Cornwell (Clare Algar), who was the Executive Director of the human rights charity Reprieve before working at Amnesty International and the Sigrid Rausing Trust, and who is now managing director of John le Carré Ltd.
Chair Biography
Alex Clark is a broadcaster and journalist, who writes for many publications including the Guardian, the Observer, and the Times Literary Supplement. She was the co-host on the Graham Norton Book Club for Audible and hosts the TLS podcast. She is a professional chairperson and appears all over the UK at Cheltenham, Hay and the Southbank Centre. Alex is a festival honorary patron and now lives in Ireland.
